The morning our church commemorated its 18th anniversary was a full-circle moment.

Our English and Spanish campuses came together for a bilingual service celebrating what God had done.

As I looked across the crowd, my mind went back nearly two decades to when my wife, Ellen, and I first arrived in Fresno, California, to plant LifeBridge Community Church (Assemblies of God). Nobody knew our names. We had no influence in the city, no history or relationships.

We simply had a conviction God had placed in our hearts. We believed the local church should serve its community, not merely exist in it.

Our dream was that one day LifeBridge would become such an important part of Fresno that people would view the church the same way they viewed first responders: a group that runs toward needs instead of away from them.

Eighteen years later, Fresno’s mayor addressed our congregation and said something I will never forget. Before becoming mayor, he served as the police chief and had seen firsthand the challenges families face and the brokenness in our city.

“If we had more churches like LifeBridge Community Church in Fresno, we would not need a police department,” the mayor said.

The mayor was not minimizing the value of law enforcement. After decades of protecting our community, he understood its importance better than most. His point was that when churches step into places of brokenness — strengthening families, feeding the hungry, serving the vulnerable, and offering hope — communities change.

Absent from these remarks were the metrics churches typically celebrate. The mayor didn’t talk about our attendance, budget, or the size of our building. He spoke of impact.

For years, churches have been good at measuring three things: buildings, budgets, and bodies. Those measurements are not wrong; they are just incomplete.

Every number represents a person. Every dollar represents generosity. Every building represents an opportunity for ministry.

But what if Jesus gave us another scoreboard? What if He invited us to measure not only who gathers inside our walls, but also who experiences His love beyond them?

In Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus indeed calls us to a different set of metrics.

Gospel on Display

Every leader measures something. The question is not whether we measure, but whether we are measuring the right things.

Attendance matters. Budgets matter. Buildings matter. Healthy churches should pay attention to those things. The danger arises when those become the only metrics.

Limiting our metrics to attendance, budgets, buildings, and programs can create a ministry culture in which pastors are constantly asking, “Are we getting bigger?” instead of, “Are we making a difference?”

The constant pressure to grow numerically is taking a toll. Barna Group reported in 2025 that nearly 1 in 4 pastors had considered leaving full-time ministry during the previous year.

As churches were still recovering from pandemic disruptions in 2022, 42% of pastors said they had considered quitting. Stress, isolation, discouragement, and church decline were among the leading factors.

The crisis is not simply pastors walking away from ministry. In many cases, it is pastors faithfully remaining in ministry, quietly wondering how much longer they can continue.

Much of the exhaustion stems from trying to measure a Kingdom assignment using incomplete standards. A congregation can have growing attendance while remaining disconnected from its neighborhood. A church may create a beautiful facility, but fail to improve the lives of people surrounding it.

A Spirit-filled 
Church should 
not only declare 
the hope of Jesus, 
but display it.

Matthew 25:35–36 says, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

What if our churches began measuring not only how many people enter our buildings, but also how many experience the love of Jesus when we step out of those buildings?

Gathering, giving, building, and managing resources help us accomplish God’s purpose. But these were never supposed to be the sole measuring sticks.

Jesus gives us another set of metrics — one that measures compassion, presence, and love for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).

This is not to minimize worship, teaching, discipleship, or evangelism. The Great Commission remains our mission. Yet Scripture never separates gospel proclamation from gospel demonstration.

A Spirit-filled Church should not only declare the hope of Jesus, but display it.

Heart of Compassion

Growing up, I was familiar with struggles. Like many others in our community, my family experienced seasons when finances were incredibly tight.

There were weeks when my father was laid off, and the only thing we had to eat was bean soup. Nevertheless, my mother exemplified generosity.

One day, a homeless man came to our door asking for something to eat. My mom could have justified turning him away. But instead of focusing on what we lacked, she saw someone who needed compassion and gave what we had.

I now realize my mother was teaching me a lesson I would carry for the rest of my life: Even if you don’t have much, you can do something.

Before I attended seminary or became a pastor, God was forming my heart. I was learning the Church is at its best when it runs toward brokenness, not away from it.

Brokenness is not an interruption to ministry. It is where ministry happens.

When we planted LifeBridge, that conviction shaped our culture. Rather than a department or annual event, we wanted compassion to be our identity.

New Perspective

If churches are going to embrace Matthew 25 metrics, we must start asking different questions.

The traditional questions aren’t bad: How many people attended? How much money did the congregation give? How many programs did we offer?

But Matthew 25 invites us to ask new questions: Who is hungry in our community? Who feels forgotten? Who needs clothing? What needs exist outside our walls? If our church disappeared tomorrow, would our community notice?

As we asked such questions at LifeBridge, we began to see our community through a different lens. Instead of obsessing over how to get more people into our church, we considered how to present the love of Jesus in places where people were hurting.

Once we started looking, we saw needs everywhere. We saw senior citizens and families facing food insecurity. We saw the homeless wandering the streets. We saw schools, nonprofits, and community organizations seeking trusted partners.

We discovered that compassion creates opportunities we could never manufacture. One step of obedience led to another.

Before Jesus taught Matthew 25, He lived it. Jesus fed the hungry, welcomed the outsider, healed the sick, and moved toward those society pushed aside.

God opened doors for us to help catalyze one of the most innovative affordable-housing communities in Fresno’s history, a project serving young adults aging out of the foster care system.

We partnered with Convoy of Hope and the local food bank, and resources began flowing through our church. This enabled the congregation to meet needs far beyond what we could have accomplished alone.

Through those partnerships, we have provided food and practical support to more than 400,000 individuals in our community and distributed 2.5 million pounds of food since 2020.

After we provided food to a local high school athletic department, one student reported it was the only thing he had to eat over spring break.

LifeBridge may not have had the largest attendance of any church in our city that week, but somewhere, a student had food. That counted for something.

Numbers represent people, and every person matters to God. Matthew 25 reminds us that some of the most meaningful ministry moments may not happen on our platforms or even inside our buildings. They happen where the hungry are fed, where people who feel forgotten are seen, and where those who are hurting experience the compassion of Jesus through His Church.

Churches don’t have to choose between gathering people and serving the least of these. God calls us to do both. Gathering and serving are equally important.

The Least

Matthew 25 is not merely encouraging random acts of kindness. This issue is personal for Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (verse 40).

Jesus identifies with the poor, the foreigner, the sick and disabled, the incarcerated, and those society overlooks.

Throughout Scripture, we see God’s heart for the vulnerable. Now Jesus makes the remarkable statement that when His followers move toward hurting people, they minister directly to Him. The more we minister to the broken, the more we bless Jesus.

This has always been central to a Pentecostal understanding of mission. The Holy Spirit empowers believers not only to proclaim the gospel, but also to embody the love and compassion of Christ for those who desperately need hope.

Compassion does not replace the gospel or serve as the means by which we earn salvation. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”

We are saved not by works, but for works. As the apostle Paul put it, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Compassion is the fruit of a life transformed by Christ and shaped by the Spirit.

Matthew 25 reveals the measure of ministry is not just how many people come to us, but how faithfully we go to them.

Our weekend gatherings matter. Yet Jesus also challenges us to ask: Are the hungry being fed? Are the lonely being seen? Are hurting people experiencing God’s compassion?

Before Jesus taught Matthew 25, He lived it. Jesus fed the hungry, welcomed the outsider, healed the sick, and moved toward those society pushed aside.

The Spirit who empowered Jesus’ ministry empowers the Church today to continue His mission.

When we run toward brokenness, we discover Jesus is already there.

Five Principles

As you take steps to reach hurting people in your community, keep five principles in view.

1. Adjust your metrics. Most churches already track attendance, giving, and participation. Keep monitoring those things, but add Matthew 25 metrics as well.

Count how many needs you are meeting, community partnerships you are strengthening, and people who are moving from the sidelines to meaningful service. What you measure shapes what you celebrate, and what you celebrate shapes your culture.

At LifeBridge, we began celebrating stories of impact with the same excitement we used to celebrate attendance milestones.

2. Identify the brokenness around you before creating programs. Too often, churches start by asking, “What program should we launch?” A better question is, “Where is our community hurting?”

Before launching anything new, listen. Meet with school principals, city leaders, nonprofit directors, first responders, and community stakeholders.

Ask, “What is the greatest unmet need in our community, and how could our church help?”

For LifeBridge, that question led us to identify food insecurity, senior citizen isolation, foster youth, and families living on the margins.

3. Build partnerships before programs. Community transformation is not about churches trying to do everything alone. Partnership is a Kingdom multiplier.

LifeBridge did not own a warehouse of food. We partnered with organizations like Convoy of Hope and our local food bank. Rather than trying to create every solution, we became a trusted bridge connecting resources to needs.

Compassion starts movements, but systems sustain them.

Your congregation may not be able to meet every need, but someone in the community desperately needs what you already have.

4. Create systems that turn compassion into culture. Compassion cannot survive if it depends solely on a pastor’s passion. It has to become part of the church’s structure.

Find ways to serve outside the building. Recruit and train volunteers to reach the community. Share stories of life impact.

LifeBridge created a nonprofit called the ACTS Foundation, providing structure to the compassion already in our hearts. That opened doors to partnerships, grants, and resources we might never have found otherwise.

While not every church needs to launch a nonprofit, intentional systems are vital. Compassion starts movements, but systems sustain them.

5. Start with what is in your hand. Sometimes pastors hear stories of community impact and disqualify themselves. They think, Our church is too small. We don’t have enough money or volunteers.

In Scripture, God rarely started with what people lacked. He began with what they had.

When Moses questioned his calling, the Lord asked, “What is that in your hand?” (Exodus 4:2).

Moses saw a staff. God saw a tool for deliverance. The same principle applies to the local church.

You may not have a huge facility, large team, or unlimited resources, but you can still make a difference in your community.

Our building at LifeBridge is only 12,500 square feet. Yet God has multiplied our church’s impact beyond its walls in ways we could never have imagined.

Instead of obsessing over what is lacking, consider what God has already provided. Perhaps it is a retired teacher with a heart for tutoring struggling students or a volunteer who can deliver meals to seniors. Maybe it’s an unused room that could become a food pantry. Perhaps it is a relationship with a school, nonprofit, business leader, or community organization.

Take inventory of the people, passions, relationships, and resources God has already entrusted to your church.

Identify the needs around you. Then build a bridge between what you have and what your community needs.

God has always multiplied whatever His people are willing to surrender.

Christ’s Love

The Church must run toward brokenness — not because compassion is a clever strategy for growing churches, but because it reflects God’s heart. As we faithfully love, serve, and meet people in their pain, we can trust Jesus with the outcome.

When Jesus saw brokenness, He moved toward it. Jesus touched people others avoided. He noticed people others ignored. He loved people others rejected. His Church must do the same.

The world does not need churches chasing relevance. It needs churches demonstrating the love of Jesus.

Bringing people into buildings is not enough. We need to send our people into the community.

When Ellen and I arrived in Fresno, we had no idea what God would do. We simply believed LifeBridge could become a place of hope and healing.

Eighteen years later, standing under that tent and listening to the mayor talk about our church’s impact, I was reminded that when we measure what Jesus measures, we begin to see what He sees.

And when we see what Jesus sees, we will run toward the brokenness He came to redeem.

This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of Influence magazine.